{"id":20851,"date":"2026-02-06T16:27:14","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:27:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/at-christies-irene-roosevelt-aitkens-collection-tests-the-market\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T16:27:21","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T16:27:21","slug":"at-christies-irene-roosevelt-aitkens-collection-tests-the-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nationalgunowner.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/06\/at-christies-irene-roosevelt-aitkens-collection-tests-the-market\/","title":{"rendered":"At Christie\u2019s, Irene Roosevelt Aitken\u2019s Collection Tests the Market"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Spanning nearly 800 lots, Irene Roosevelt Aitken\u2019s collection reflects a lifetime devoted to European connoisseurship at its most exacting and opulent. Christie’s Images Ltd.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Christie\u2019s upcoming auctions of the holdings of philanthropist and patron of the arts Irene Roosevelt Aitken<\/a> tell the story of a deeply refined eye. Spanning some 800 lots, the collection includes Fragonard drawings, Romney portraits, Savonnerie carpets, Louis XV giltwood chairs, Meissen porcelain and antique European firearms\u2014each piece a testament to Aitken\u2019s taste for European connoisseurship at its most opulent. With three live auctions slated for February 11-13, plus two online sales<\/a>, the dissolution of her collection will reveal whether the haute billionaire appetite for such ornate fare still holds sway in the era of Mahdavi minimalism.<\/p>\n

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\u201cHer collection is extraordinary in terms of connoisseurship; the consistency of superlative quality across so many categories remains unsurpassed,\u201d Christie\u2019s deputy chairman Will Strafford<\/a> told Observer, pointing out the impeccable provenance of lots once owned by tastemakers like Winston Guest<\/a>, Consuelo Vanderbilt Balsan<\/a> and Thelma Chrysler Foy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The sales offer a glimpse into a bygone era. Art and design collectors extraordinaire, Irene (who died at age 94 last April) and her third husband, Russell Barnett Aitken<\/a>, were the cr\u00e8me de la cr\u00e8me of New York society. The family resided in a luxe Rosario Candela building on Fifth Avenue for close to 100 years. Russell, an artist and true Renaissance man, was her third husband, and much of the collection was actually acquired by his late first wife, the sculptor Annie Laurie Crawford<\/a>, who favored French holdings (and whose daughter was the tragic Sunny von B\u00fclow<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Irene, however, added highly important British 18th-century pieces and more. The paintings and the pastels, in particular, are sublime. Irene\u2019s George Romney portraits? Divine. \u201cYou don\u2019t see much of this quality outside top-tier museums,\u201d London art advisor Harriet Drummond<\/a>, who spent nearly four decades at Christie\u2019s and advised Irene, told Observer.<\/p>\n

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GEORGE III ORMOLU-MOUNTED BLUE JOHN AND AVENTURINE BLUE GLASS \u2018SPHINX\u2019 PERFUME VASES BY MATTHEW BOULTON, circa 1770. 13 in. (33 cm.) high, 6 in. (15.2 cm.) wide. Estimate: $120,000 -180,000. Christie’s Images Ltd.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

While at Christie\u2019s, Drummond handled the sale of the Hugh Douglas Hamilton<\/a> 1790 Portrait of a Gentleman<\/i> (estimate: $100,000-150,000) to Irene. \u201cThe Europeans and Americans will step forward for the paintings, and some are hedge fund guys. While many of Irene\u2019s purchases reached record prices, Christie\u2019s estimates are highly reasonable.\u201d A Hamilton pastel last scored $535,739 at a Christie\u2019s sale in London in 2000.<\/p>\n

Still, with prices reaching $1 million+ for a Savonnerie carpet, c. 1640, is demand dwindling for Irene\u2019s rarefied antiques? Collectors who favored such fare\u2014Jayne Wrightsman<\/a>, Jane Engelhard<\/a> and Chicagoan Catherine Hamilton<\/a>, who founded the American Friends of Versailles\u2014are no longer with us. And deep-pocketed figures like Bezos, Beyonc\u00e9 and others, including Arab and Emirati buyers, hardly seem like Gilded Age fanciers.<\/p>\n

So, is opulence still in? \u201cI wish I knew, as it\u2019s a bygone era,\u201d collector Susan Gutfreund<\/a> told Observer. She, along with her late husband, John, who served as CEO of Salomon Brothers, dwelt in a 12,000-square-foot apartment in New York and a home in Paris. Recently, she trimmed back her collection of rarities, though she still sups on 18th-century S\u00e8vres porcelain, just as Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette did.<\/p>\n

But Paris dealer Guillaume L\u00e9age, who heads Galerie L\u00e9age<\/a>, which specializes in 18th-century furniture and objets, told Observer that \u201cthe taste for French 18th Century remains alive,\u201d adding that he will be buying at Christie\u2019s sale for clients that include the Louvre, the Met, the Getty and others.<\/p>\n

The sale is, arguably, taking place during turbulent times. Yes, the stock market has reached startling heights, but Saks Global filed for bankruptcy. Amazon is laying off a stunning 16,000 workers. Even Alexander McQueen is slashing staff. Strafford, however, is unfazed. He points out that a scant three years ago, the Rothschild sale staged at the auction house\u2019s Rockefeller headquarters achieved a staggering $62.6 million<\/a> against a trifling $20-33 million estimate. Plus, \u201can increasing number of non-Europeans are now taking on grand French chateaux and massive English country houses and fitting them out with period furnishings. Young fashion designers are buying French and British 18th-century furniture for its lasting craftsmanship.\u201d<\/p>\n

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MAURICE -QUENTIN DE LA TOUR, Portrait du Mar\u00e9chal & Duc de Belle-Isle. Pastel on blue paper, mounted on canvas, 24 x 20\u00bc in. (61 x 51.5 cm.) each. Estimate: $400,000-600,000. Christie’s Images Ltd.<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rarities in the sale include the oeuvre of the 18th-century polymath Matthew Boulton, the co-developer of the steam engine and a preeminent purveyor of luxury goods whose patrons included Catherine the Great. Irene\u2019s cache of Boulton examples is among the rarest and most important in the world, noted Strafford. Case in point: a pair of George III ormolu-mounted blue john candle vases is expected to achieve $80,000-120,000.<\/p>\n

Russell\u2019s firearms should inspire keen interest. There is a pair of gold-embellished pistols given by Napoleon to his son, the King of Rome. And the luxury holdings of a bygone era will doubtlessly find favor. A Tiffany 18-karat gold dressing room set, complete with brushes, perfume bottles, scissors and more, is expected to fetch $100,000-150,000. And who can resist a set of Cartier gold matchbox holders, each adorned with a charming enameled red ladybug?<\/p>\n

But will the under-40 set be buying? London dealer Jonny Yarker<\/a>, who with Lowell Libson<\/a>, exhibited at the Winter Show and sold Irene all of her pastels but one, told Observer that the \u201creality is Frick didn\u2019t start collecting in his 40s. It\u2019s not the end of an era. People are always buying the best, and she left a stellar legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ever the thoughtful New York arts philanthropist, Irene stipulated before she passed that the auction\u2019s proceeds would benefit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Frick Collection, and the Morgan Library and Museum.<\/p>\n

More in Auctions<\/b><\/h3>\n

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